1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to manual shelf management systems, and more specifically to a space saving, manual, modular, bottom containing and laterally supporting, shelf management system.
2. Background Information
Labor inefficiencies and other problems result when merchandise is displayed on retail shelves with neither rigid dividers nor a method to bring product forward on the shelf into selling position without handling the merchandise piece-by-piece. These problems pertain to grocery stores and other retail stores where consumer packaged goods, such as food products, spray paint cans and health and beauty care products, are displayed for sale on shelves. With no rigid dividers store personnel must, during product stocking, form rows by approximating straight lines and then finessing products into straight rows. This process is imprecise and time consuming. Further, as new merchandise is fed into rows from the front of the shelf, packages in the middle of the row tend to move to the left or right (known as “snaking”) causing packages in the middle or back of the row to be significantly out of alignment with those at the front. This results in wasted labor as store personnel must handle the merchandise multiple extra times to position products in proper row alignment. Another result is shelf disorganization that degrades the shopping experience by making it difficult for shoppers to locate and reach/grasp merchandise. Merchandise is generally always selected by the consumer from the front of the shelf and store personnel are constantly bringing merchandise from the middle and rear of the shelf forward into selling position, a process called fronting. The vast majority of store shelves are fronted using the legacy practice where store clerks grasp individual packages and pull them forward. This manually intensive practice is time consuming and can be counter-productive because, as the store clerk reaches with his hand into the shelf to grasp packages, adjacent merchandise is sometimes knocked out of position which requires the clerk to then re-position that disrupted merchandise before the fronting procedure is completed. Further, the piece-by-piece fronting method is ineffective as typically only one or two items may be easily brought forward into selling position leaving merchandise at the middle and rear of the shelf out of shopper view and inaccessible.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,198,527 (hereinafter the '527 patent), which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an effective shelf management system for use on retail store shelves, especially on grocery store shelves. The '527 patent also yields an effective description of prior art shelf management solutions that can be helpful in understanding the state of the art. The system of the '527 patent, which is comprised of individual shelf management units, provides effective row separation, provides lateral support for product rows and allows for easy and rapid row fronting. Further, the '527 patent maintains straight product rows and establishes positive row separation which together enhance the shopping experience by facilitating product identification and access. Further, the positive row separation prevents co-mingling of products on the shelves (where an item moves from its designated row into a different adjacent row) which causes extra work for store clerks, leads to difficulty in determining how much of a given item is stocked on the shelf, and can lead to items becoming “lost” on the shelf such that they do not sell before their expiration date. The '527 patent does not attach to the shelf with mechanical fasteners or permanent adhesives making installation fast and easy. Further, because this system is not attached to the shelf, new product cut-ins and merchandise reconfigurations (called re-sets) are easy to accomplish. As the '527 patent is comprised of individual trays or bases that support individual product rows, re-setting of merchandise is made easier as the units of this system, while loaded with merchandise, can be lifted off and away from the shelf and repositioned on a different shelf location in the store. Further the '527 patent is an easy to manufacture and a low cost system which is a crucial feature for display systems which stores find unattractive if the systems are expensive.
One limitation of the '527 patent is a lack of features to prevent the base of the individual shelf management units of a system from moving objectionably either rearward or forward. The units are designed to slide freely on the shelf surface laterally left and right, and this unimpeded movement is desirable for the purpose of ease of installation, proper seating of the shelf management units between product rows, and facilitation of row repositioning. This lateral movement is held in check by the fact that rows of merchandise are, as a rule, positioned closely side-to-side. There are no features on most shelves nor are there features of typical merchandise configurations, however, to prevent the shelf management units from moving forward or backward. If, for example, the base moves either backward or forward one inch, then the base is out of position both with regard to appearance and function. When the base moves forward or backward store personnel must take time to move the unit back into correct position. As the principal purpose of the system is to decrease labor for store clerks, any extra tasks presented in the operation of the system itself should be minimized or eliminated.
A further limitation of the '527 patent is that, while the individual shelf management units that comprise the system are designed to move freely laterally to the left and right there are some applications where this lateral movement needs to be held in check so that the individual shelf management units do not move out of position.
Another drawback of the '527 patent is a lack of a feature to reduce the likelihood that merchandise packages will fall off the open side of a base of a shelf management unit in those cases where large gaps exist between individual shelf management units such that merchandise on the subject unit is no longer laterally supported on both the left and right side. A related limitation of the '527 patent is a lack of a feature on the back-stop to urge the merchandise packages in a direction away from the open side edge of the base (and towards the divider) so that they are less likely to fall off the base during row fronting. In those cases where the merchandise packages on a shelf management unit are not laterally supported by an immediately adjacent shelf management unit the operation of the row fronting mechanism is facilitated by features that urge the merchandise packages to stay on the base of the subject unit and help prevent them from falling off the open side edge of the unit.
A further limitation of the '527 patent is the possibility that the front of a divider of a shelf allocation and management unit can travel rearward and behind the front of a base of the unit. If the front of the divider travels behind the front of the base of the unit then an operator may have to spend extra time retrieving the front of the divider before it can be positively grasped in order to activate the fronting feature. The lack of a mechanism to prevent the front of the divider from traveling rearward of the front of the base also eliminates the ability of store management to shorten the effective shelf row depth by coupling a shorter divider (with attached backstop) to a longer base.
A further limitation of the '527 patent is a lack of an efficient mechanism for lengthening and shortening the base of the units. The '527 patent discloses a base that may be lengthened or shortened by using a connecting piece which allows separate base sections of varying lengths to be connected to achieve a longer or shorter base in order to accommodate various shelf depths within a store. This is inherently inefficient as various base components would need to be manufactured, delivered to the store and maintained indefinitely in the store inventory. Store personnel would be forced to assemble each base as a step in the installation process. If, at a later time, store clerks wanted to move the systems to a shelf of a different depth they might have to order new lengthening or shortening components to make the adjustment, and this could create delays.
A further limitation of the '527 patent is the lack of a method for preventing merchandise with a high center of gravity from tipping backwards. Merchandise with a high center of gravity would include pouches, tall narrow cans, or product stacks (such as stacked yogurt cups).
A further limitation of the '527 patent is that the divider of a unit may be prevented from being pulled forward for row fronting when a unit is on a retail store shelf with a high front lip. Shelves with a high lip on the top front edge are common in refrigerated store sections where yogurt, tubs of cream cheeses and processed meats are displayed for sale.
It is the object of the present invention to address the deficiencies of the prior art shelf management system and provide a highly effective, very low-cost, easy to install and easy to use shelf management system.